Under Construction

It's been raining a lot off and on around here. I really like the rain but I hate looking in my backyard to see how it always puddles up in the middle. Just one more project to add to the ever-growing list of things to do around here. Eventually I need to bury 3" irrigation pipes and drop some fill dirt. Until I feel it's a pressing issue I'll continue to find other fun stuff to do rather than all the stuff I need to do. You know, like making a cool looking turnout sign for Marcel's pony. It was Lana's idea actually. I've been messing around with my unfinished PVC canister aquarium filter in the garage so when Lana mentioned going to the hardware store I jumped. It's not everyday Lana wants to go so I was all over it. I finally found the right drill bit to hang the hose hanger by the porch, priced some mini fridges, showed Lana the nail guns (I finally convinced her I need a compressor after putting up the new fence), bought some chain, and wood for the new sign. I found everything except the 3/4" PVC female adaptor, the main thing I went looking for.
I love the smell of warm sawdust. They should put that stuff in those car fresheners. Marcel and Lana helped by imprinting the templates we made to the wood and I dremeled them out plus I got to break out my new router for the first time. I think it came out pretty good.
Later today I plan on finishing my PVC canister filter. That is, if I don't end up building an alcohol stove. I have absolutely no use for one but it's really cool and looks easy to make. I was catching up on a blog I read now and then when she writes,

"I still need to buy long underwear bottoms, a 4-6 liter water container, hiking poles, some JB Weld so I can make an alcohol stove, some alcohol for that stove,..."

It was right around there I zoned out and stopped reading. It's like telling me,

"All I need is Duct tape, a shower curtain, and an old curling iron"

It peaks my interest anytime someone mentions some sort of construction project big or small. Now I just need an excuse to make one. I wonder if my brother could use one when he goes fishing. I can't remember the last time I went camping. Maybe it's time, with summer here, to finally do that camping trip we've been talking about for so long.

Recommended Movie: Little Otik
Lana, Helen and me were sitting around a few nights back trying to figure out what to watch. I put it on IFC just to see what was on when we became mesmerized by a tree stump. I love this movie! It has that 1980's horror movie feel to it that you just don't see in cinema anymore. It reminded me classics like Puppet Master, Dead Alive, and Basket Case. It's a fun watch and here's a movie quote!

"It seems you need to lock hoes up these days."

UFC and a Few Beers Later...

I decided to have a small poker break and relaxed a bit this weekend. On Saturday, I invited over friends and we watched UFC 60. I bought the usual mix of chips, salsa, cheese, cokes, and beer. Lana, who's been watching UFC as long as I have, wanted to watch with the guys so she got snacky food too. Needless to say, I think we over did the food but I don't think there were any complaints. Between the huge platter of salami, cheese and olives, cheesecake slices, sandwich slices, kish bites, and chips, there was no need to order pizza.
The first few fights were fast and a little disappointing but the main event more than made up for it. My bets were on Matt Hughes since the beginning, back when some Dragon Ball Z fighter was the champ. I read Carlos Newton still fights but in Pride now. Fucking Dragonball Z Jiu-jitsu... What kind of silly ass shit is that?? Lana and I watched Hughes win the belt, destroy fighter after fighter, lose the belt, and regain it. His game has come a long way and he's only become tougher over the years, but he's never lost his sense of sportsmanship. I think he's one of the most well rounded fighters out there and that's what it takes to be a champion in the octagon now days. The days of men like Gracie are over. To quote Newsday.com,

"The nostalgic man picked Gracie, but the betting man had Hughes."

There ended up being like three more fights afterwards. We watched the first fight after the main event but by that time it was all just foreplay until we went to the office for a late night poker game. I was a little past buzzing by the time I made my way up the stairs but that just meant I had to go a little slower so I didn't drop my beer. Priorities.
I read somewhere that Matt Hughes plays poker. I should invite him to our game if he's ever in Houston...
Hey, if you haven't seen X-men yet, you need to. I was a little worried about this one with a new director but all that worry went out the window. Without giving anything away there was a lot more explosions for those who need that, the bad cheese was kept to a minimum ("Do you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut bitch!"), but most importantly it was a good story told well that flowed very well. Go see it!

School's Out & Summer is Here

Hadn't really been up to much other than watching a lot of The Sopranos. I bought season one through three on eBay last week and got them in the mail a few days ago. I'm on Season three now so I need to find season four quick before I finish the one I'm on. Did I mention I'm a bit obsessive? Anyway, I did take a break from the TV long enough to go take pictures of Johnathon and Marcus graduating. Lana and Marcel went to the barn to play with their horse and pony.
The boys crack me up. Marcus was so serious and shy, but he at least pretended to sing. Johnathon was making funny faces the whole time but refused to sing and didn't even bother to move his lips like he was. He did sway a little I think with the rest of the class when they sang We are the World but that could have been the other kids pushing him with their shoulders. I took a lot of pictures and had fun going through them to find my favorites. I figured I'd share a my two of em.
Afterwards I was feeling a little tired so I went to the movies around the corner and finally watched An American Haunting. It was okay. I can't say it was great (cause it wasn't) but it wasn't that bad either. Let me put it another way. I liked the story but I had a hard time getting into it with the damn voice over narration. There were a few other things I didn't like but all pretty minor but they did all add up. Like I said, it was an okay movie. Remind me to never again go to the movies thirty minutes after school lets out though. I had to put up with loud little girls and their horny boyfriends in the back of the theatre. I had to tell them to shut up twice before they finally got bored annoying me and decided to fondle each other in the dark. Fuck. I've become that dad guy who actually came to watch the movie.
Tomorrow I'll catch the early bird for X-men and hopefully avoid all the kids sleeping in on there first few days of summer. Maybe they'll still be in school. A dad can hope...

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

After months of waiting I finally decided to just fix the damn fence. The dogs were staying in the house way too much and weren't getting out often enough. Every time we let them out to use the restroom they had to be supervised otherwise they might get out of the yard through our neighbors rotting fence. After two days of sweat, blisters, and a sore back, I finally got it finished. Lana tried helping at one point but the poor girl just can't swing a hammer to save her life. She really wanted to help so I asked her to pull the old nails out of the 2x4's. I'm beginning to wonder if it wasn't just a ploy. She can bully around a half ton horse, muck stalls, and haul hay around all day but she can't pull nails. Anyway, she helped by tearing down one section of old fencing and let me handle the rest. My good neighbor was kind enough to inspect my work once I was finished. At least my dogs can't get out of the yard anymore. Now I just gotta get rid of all the rotten wood from my yard. I was tempted to leave it in his yard since it is, after all, his fence.
This weekend is going to be a pretty full one I think. I was hoping to get away to the movies but looks like it won't be until Monday. We have the poker game tonight so that pretty much means I'll get little to no sleep. In the morning Lana has a horse show that I agreed to go to. Then in the evening she's doing a Bachelorette party for a friend and I'm off to enjoy "gentlemen's entertainment" with the rest of the guys. On Sunday Lana has a party so I'll be without a car. So Monday will be movie day I guess. I really wanna go see An American Haunting. It'll probably have to wait until I drag half my zoo to the vet for their yearly shots and meds. Gawd, this weekend is gonna be busy. Arg. I'm gonna try to get some Warcraft time squeezed in before the poker game so I'm off to log on.

Stupid Cold

Why is it that when I'm sick I notice even more of the stuff I should be doing? I've been stuffy and headachy now for the past few days but never can seem to sit still for too long. I hate being sick mostly because I feel so useless to do anything. I then end up overdoing it trying to compensate for the fact that I'm sick and shouldn't be doing anything. Stupid cold. Thanks Helen.
Yesterday I even went so far as to fill in all the holes in our yard from the water leak. After that was said and done I measured the fence so I can tear it down this weekend. I then proceeded to tear down the small fence by the kid's play house in the back. All the while groggy and light-headed on Tylenol Cough and Sore Throat. I had accidentally taken the night time medicine and didn't realize it until I was going to bed and I read the label before doping up. Turns out I had been taking the wrong medicine all day. I climbed up a twenty foot latter earlier, not once, not twice, but three times with medicine head. The first time I figured I was just hunger causing me to be a little light-headed. The second time I chickened out two steps from the top when I almost missed a step. The third time I just did it fast. I think next time I'll just sit on my ass and watch TV with the dogs.
Speaking of dogs, Stitch is making me crazy. He's not quite house trained and he seems to think every room in the house is his. So he marks it accordingly. Then Sally and Bree have to mark over him since he is the omega in the pack. So what do I get? Lots of messes to clean up while Lana is out at the barn and I'm home sick. He's getting there as far as house breaking and learning the basic commands but it's making me crazy. My carpet steamer has had a workout the past few days. In the end I'm sure we'll have a well behaved dog but getting there is always a pain.
Since I'm not playing the second game of poker tonight I guess I'll order a movie on Directv. Oh wait, I can't since I've gone over my limit. Assholes. Turns out me ordering the De La Hoya fight put me over my limit so I have to wait for the next auto connect billing to clear my receiver before I can order more movies in my living room. Why I have a limit is beyond me. I don't mind paying. I ordered it after all. When I told them I'd be switching over to cable the tech help guy said, "Thank you for using Directv. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
I'll be going back to Time Warner in the next few days. Besides, they have better HDTV DVRs. Okay, I'm done venting. Gonna dope up on some more medicine so I can breath through my nose again. I should max out every receiver in the house on porn and disconnect them from the telephone lines before I cancel. Okay, now I'm done for real.

Fight Night!

Yesterday I ordered the big De La Hoya fight and had some friends over. I have to say I thought the first three fights simply sucked but the main event more than made up for it. Even if you're not normally into boxing it was a very entertaining fight. Oscar didn't just beat this guy, he embarrassed him. After all the trash talk, the vile behavior, and unsportsman behavior Mayorga failed miserably to back it up. During the fight a commentator went so far as to say, "Oscar blocks with his gloves and Mayorga blocks with his head." Nothing cooler than watching a true sportsman walk away with the win. I guess that's what I like about Oscar De La Hoya so much. He shows a level of true sportsmanship you just don't seem to see enough of these days. Guys like him in sports are a dying breed and it's really ashame. Everything in the world of boxing, as well as other sports, has started to resemble WWF more and more these days.
It was good to see Derek and Jess. I hadn't seen either of them in a while with poker, Warcraft, and the difficulties of real life shit constantly getting in the way. I hadn't roleplayed in ages. I hadn't really thought about it much lately with everything else. There was a little talk about roleplaying but once the fight was over it was pretty late. We ended up migrating up to the office to play some free poker. Anthony's streak of bad luck at the table rolled on even in a free game but to our defense there was no money on the table so we were drawing to anything. Plus Oscar had a bad case of gas wasn't shy about dropping bombs at the table so it was hard to concentrate. It finally got so bad I think he couldn't stand the smell of em and he started going out of the room to drop em. I think it was affecting Magnus. He was streaking across the room and climbing the walls literally. We finally called it quits when Derek beat me heads up.
I should go for now. I need to finish getting ready. We're getting ready to head out to eat. I bet I can probably watch the fight again before it's time to go...

A Little Frenchy

We've somehow managed to adopt another dog. Amazingly, it wasn't my fault. Looking back now, neither was the second one. When did my wife become a dog person?? Anyway, I get the call from Lana on her way home from her daily barn time...
"I'm on my way home."
"Okay..."
"I'm bringing home a puppy."
There wasn't a question in her tone and if you know Lana that means you know she means exactly what she saying. She can say something and you can just here the challenge in her voice. I groaned at the thought of house training yet another dog nevermind the complication of our neighbor's rotting fence. When she got home though, how could I say no to a puppy? I'm not sure it would have mattered though...
One of our friends, Gina, runs a little animal rescue shelter out of her house and a neighbor brought this little guy to her. She fell in love with him and wanted to see him go to a good home. Somehow she knew Lana was the weak link and the rest is just details. Stitch (look at those ears!) fit right in with the girls. Turns out Sally is a lot more playful then even we knew! Bree's having some issues though as Stitch seems to have taken her spot in the pack so we'll have to watch her closely the next few months. He's a handful right now, constantly playing and causing trouble. Those ears crack me up every time I see him aim those radars. I'm just happy his breed gets a little bigger than we thought. I think Lana was having some thoughts about making him one of those weird little purse dogs that try to eat everyone but the weirdo who put them in the bag. After eating a late dinner with Helen we went to Walmart. We're shopping for a collar for him when Lana says he needs studs on his collar. I said I think it would look a little gay on dog that small and Helen was quick to point out, "But he is a French Bulldog!" Har, Har. Sometimes it's painful, but always amusing.